By Rédaction Africanews and AFP Gabon is in talks with Meta and TikTok over the country’s social media ban, the communication ministry said on Thursday. Gabon’s media regulator suspended all social media platforms earlier this month, blaming online content for stoking conflict and division. Companies failed to act despite numerous warnings about defamatory, violent and pornographic content, deputy presidency spokeswoman Jennyfer Melodie Sambat said on Monday. It is “inconceivable that, after numerous alerts from the government, the group should do nothing”, she added. TikTok has contacted the media regulator to express its shared commitment to maintaining a “safe digital environment…
Author: Montage Africa
By AFP A United Nations flight landed at Khartoum airport on Thursday, the first since Sudan’s nearly three-year war began, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the country said, calling it “a big deal” for aid workers trying to reach millions of Sudanese in need. Since April 2023, Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a devastating conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced some 11 million people. Khartoum, which was overrun by the RSF early in the conflict, has slowly begun to recover since the army retook it in March last year. “I’d…
By Dominic Wabwireh with other agencies Guinea’s military has confirmed the detention of 16 Sierra Leonean soldiers after accusing them of crossing the border and raising their flag on Guinean soil, while Freetown maintains its troops were on its own territory constructing a border post, the latest flare-up in a decades-old territorial dispute. According to Guinea’s Ministry of National Defense, the soldiers entered the district of Koudaya in the Faranah border region without authorization on Sunday, where they “set up a tent and raised their national flag” approximately 1.4 kilometers inside Guinea . Their equipment and supplies were seized, and…
Nigeria’s government has rejected a media report alleging that it paid a “huge” ransom to Islamist militant group Boko Haram to secure the release of more than 200 pupils and staff abducted from a Catholic boarding school in November. Information Minister Mohammed Idris described the allegation, made by the AFP news agency quoting intelligence sources, as “completely false and baseless” and a “disservice to the professionalism and integrity” of the security forces. He also denied that two Boko Haram commanders were freed as part of the deal. In a separate announcement, a presidential spokesman has said police chief Kayode Egbetokun,…
By Rédaction Africanews and AP As the United States continues to threaten military action against Iran, Iranians are anxiously awaiting a new round of talks set to take place in Geneva this week. They’re hoping the two countries can strike a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme and ward off the outbreak of war. “Everybody is worried, because the consequences of war with a country like America,” says Tehran resident Mohammadi, who didn’t give his first name. “We once fought Iraq for eight years, but it was a country at the same level with us, but going to war with America,…
By Rédaction Africanews and AP Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday at the start of a two-day visit to Ethiopia. He was welcomed by the country’s Foreign Minister and is expected to meet President Salassie and Prime Minister Abiy later in the day. The visit follows Israel’s controversial recognition of Somaliland late last year and appears to be part of a diplomatic push to expand Israeli influence in the Horn of Africa. During his own recent visit to Ethiopia, Turkey’s President Erdogan warned that the region should not become a “battlefield of foreign forces.”
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Ethiopia on Tuesday revoked the licence of independent online outlet Addis Standard saying it harmed national interests, in the latest curb on press freedom. Africa’s second most populous nation s ranks 145th out of 180 in the press freedom index compiled by Reporters without Borders. According to a statement posted on Facebook by the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), whose director is appointed by the lower house of parliament, Addis Standard “has been repeatedly disseminating reports that violate media ethics, Ethiopian laws, and endanger the national interests of the country and its people”. It said Addis…
Ugandan police have arrested two women, both in their 20s, after neighbours reported seeing them kiss outside, an act criminalised under the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the police said the pair had been taken into custody on Wednesday 18 February in Arua, a city in north-western Uganda. Authorities said neighbours had photographed them before alerting police. The women remain in custody without access to legal representation, according to the AFP news agency. The country’s law imposes severe penalties, including life imprisonment, for same-sex relations and the death sentence for what are described as “aggravated” cases.…
By AP The violence that followed the killing of a cartel leader in Mexico is fueling fears that the bloodshed could hurt tourism ahead of the FIFA World Cup later this year. Guadalajara is slated to be one of Mexico’s host cities for the competition. It was one of many places in Mexico that was marked by violence over the past few days. Jalisco, in western Mexico, was already facing scrutiny. The state has been plagued by some of the starkest examples of cartel violence in recent years, including the discovery of a cartel killing site at a ranch last…
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on a rare visit to Ukraine on Wednesday urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to release two Ghanaian prisoners of war who were captured fighting for Russia. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has drawn in mercenaries and foreign fighters on both sides of the conflict, including from several African countries. Ukraine said Wednesday that more than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries – including Ghana – had been identified among Russia’s ranks, and that some of them had been captured. “We are quite optimistic that this visit will be very…